


Stay

by all_the_history_drama



Category: Bridgerton (TV), Bridgerton Series - Julia Quinn
Genre: A little bit of angst, Apparently that's a thing, Babies, Canon Compliant, Childbirth, Domestic Fluff, Fluff, Missing Scene, No beta we die like Edmund, One Shot, Why Though, everything's alright in the end, missing moment
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-13
Updated: 2021-03-13
Packaged: 2021-03-21 15:14:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,011
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30023706
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/all_the_history_drama/pseuds/all_the_history_drama
Summary: Just a little fluffy piece on the birth of Kate and Anthony's first child.
Relationships: Anthony Bridgerton/Kate Sharma, Anthony Bridgerton/Kate Sheffield, Violet Bridgerton & Kate Sheffield
Comments: 7
Kudos: 147





	Stay

**Author's Note:**

> It's starts with Lady Whistledown, because of course, it must start with Lady Whistledown.

_This Author cannot fail to notice that the Viscount and Viscountess Bridgerton along with the rest of the Bridgerton family have vacated London for the remainder of the season. While most families do leave the city for a quiet foray into the countryside, it must be noted that the Bridgerton’s have often not. Though This Author does not cover up the more sordid details of societies’ escapades, she rarely makes illusions to the follow – the Bridgerton’s departure from London must be for the impending addition of an heir. Society must be waiting with bated breath, but This Author is sure the newest Bridgerton will be a boy. The only question remaining is if like the former Viscount and Viscountess, the name of their firstborn will begin with an A. This Author thinks not._

_LADY WHISTLEDOWN’S SOCIETY PAPERS,_

_20 JUNE 1815_

Kate groaned slightly as she lowered herself onto the bed. She pressed one fist into the small of her back and braced herself with the other against the bedcovering. After having pains on and off like this all day, she was simply wanted to close her eyes for a moment. She loved the chaos of Audrey Hall during the summer when Hyacinth and Gregory were home and running around, but this was a little much on top of that. 

“You’ll never give me a break, will you?” she whispered, looking down at the bulge below her dress. The fabric pooled around her waist and she knew it made her look even bigger than she was – which was impressive enough on its own as the baby was due in the next few weeks. “Just like your father.”

She sighed and tried to reach behind her back to undo the buttons on her dress. Managing to get them unfastened, she stood up just enough to let the gown fall to the floor. Her front lacing short stays followed quickly. Now dressed in just her chemise, Kate moved back the covers and got into the bed, leaning against the bolster pillows. Another of the pains shot through her, sharper this time.

“It can’t be time, not yet,” she spoke quietly again to the child, but this time without her eyes open. Placing a hand on her rounded abdomen, she pulled up the covers. _Perhaps I am drowsy enough that despite the pain I will catch some sleep_ , she thought to herself.

In a half dream state, Kate lay there for quite some time before she heard the door. Her eyes opened just enough to see Anthony, cravat partially untied and coat in hand. She did not make any indication that she knew he had entered or that she was awake. So quietly that if she had been asleep, he never would have woken her, Anthony set down the coat, finished untying the cravat, and took off his waistcoat. Kate could just about hear him slipping off his shoes, but she only knew what he was doing because she had heard him so many times before. Stocking clad feet made less of a sound and she almost missed as he walked over to the side of the bed she was on. He leaned down and brushed a curl from her face and kissed her forehead.

She smiled slightly as he pulled away.

“Ahh, so you are awake,” he said, reaching up to her hair. He carefully pulled out one of the hair pins and a mass of curls fell to Kate’s shoulder. Tenderly, he removed a second pin, causing another cascade of hair to tumble down. “Three of the pins, like usual?” he asked.

Kate murmured in the affirmative.

“I didn’t think you would go to bed without undoing this – it can’t be comfortable.” He pulled the third pin out and then ran his fingers through her hair, his fingers catching in some of the tangles.

“It isn’t, but I just…” Kate sighed and then grimaced, hand moving to her side.

“What’s wrong?” he reacted quickly, just at the instant the pain passes across her face.

“I’m sure it’s nothing,” she opened her eyes and tried to reassure him, but she could see in his face it was not working. _I do not want to worry him,_ she thought to herself as she saw another flicker of anxiety, the kind he always tried to cover, flash through his eyes.

“Clearly it’s not nothing,” Anthony responded. The corners of his eyes crinkled ever so slightly more and the hand on her face and hair became more entwinned, pressed against her so she could feel his pulse through his wrist. 

“I’ve had these twinges of pain, on and off all day. Daphne said I was bound to get them when the time was getting close, but it doesn’t mean anything actually wrong,” she said it to reassure him, but tried to use it to convince herself as well.

“I think those aren’t meant to last all day,” he moved his hand to grasp hers. His eyes were locked with hers.

“How would you know?” she asked.

“Well, I was around when my mother had my siblings, and with Daphne…”

“You’re not the one experiencing it,” she said, trying to put her normal argumentative flair into the tone and seeming to fail.

“No, I’m not,” he said, smoothing her hair back from her face with the hand that was not covering hers. “But you don’t seem alright and while I have been doing my utmost not to argue with you of late, I may need to break that if you continue to…”

“Ohhhh,” the pain hit Kate harder this time and she grasped at Anthony’s hand.

“Something is definitely not right,” he said. “I’m going to get mother and send for a midwife.” He leaned down and kissed her forehead again and then the back of her hand as she still had his in a fixed grip. “Let go of my hand so I can do that, alright?”

“Stay,” she whispers, her face tensed up. She cannot hide the fact this is scaring her – she would be lying to herself if the thought of all this had not been scaring her for weeks. _So many women die in childbirth and Anthony is only just coming out of this shell he has built around himself._ Despite her own insecurities about herself – and try as she might she had not worked through them - she knew if she died, it would break him.

“I’ll be right back,” he promised, kissing her forehead again. She gives his hand one last squeeze before releasing it. And then, as though sensing her worry (though he can be horribly argumentative, he does have this apt sense of other’s feelings – a result of having so many younger siblings always looking up to him). “I love you.”

Kate opened her eyes slightly and the corners of her mouth turned up in a faint glimmer of a smile. “I love you, too.”

She watched as he went out the door, covered only in stocking feet, breeches, and his partially unfastened shirt, typically too casual an ensemble even within the confines of Aubrey Hall. Closing her eyes again, she waited, and only a few minutes passed before footsteps enter the room. She knew they were not Anthony’s, so she opened her eyes a fraction to see Violet Bridgerton standing before her. 

“How close are they together, Kate, and why didn’t you tell someone earlier?” she asked. The concern in her voice was very evident, but she also seemed surprisingly calm, at least to Kate.

“I… I don’t know,” she finished without coherent thought.

“No matter,” Violet said. “Let’s move you to the Viscountess’s room.”

“Are you sure it’s time?” Kate asked, her voice sounding weaker than normal.

“No, but I have my suspicions, and I assure you that you don’t want to be here when it starts.” Immediately, Violet moved towards her.

Kate nodded, but Violet did not elaborate. Instead, she helped Kate swing her feet slowly to the floor and handed her a shawl from the foot of the bed. No sooner had they made it to the Viscountess’s room (the servants cleaned it, so it was serviceable despite no one using it anymore daily), than Kate felt a pop between her legs and a rush of fluid. For the umpteenth time that night, she grimaced, though this time not from pain.

“Well, that certainly proves my point,” Violet said calmly. “Don’t worry, this is just as it should be. I did this a fair number of times. And we have plenty of time, since this is your first.”

Violet helped Kate clean up and situated her into the bed. To Kate it felt odd to be sitting there, in this room connected to her and Anthony’s that she never used even though technically it was _hers_.

“Mother? Kate?” Anthony’s voice called out from the connecting room.

“In here,” Violet responded, straightening the shawl around Kate’s shoulders and the pillows behind her back. “You let me know if there’s anything you need.” She moved towards the other side of the room.

Kate nodded ever so slightly – everything was just too overwhelming and somehow she knew it was only just getting started.

“I sent for a midwife and sent a messenger to Edwina and Mary,” Anthony entered the room and was immediately by Kate’s side.

“Good,” Violet said. “Have a servant – have Anne do it - prepare hot water and bring some towels up.”

Anthony glanced down at Kate. She had taken his hand and was clinging to it in a way which made him think she would not be letting go this time.

“I need him to stay,” Kate said, looking at Violet, her eyes pleading. Just as she said that a pain hit her and this time it was much, much worse than the ones before. Her grip on Anthony’s hand became much stronger, and she constricted his fingers in such a way he was almost worried for one moment they would break. She let out a sigh as the pain relaxed.

“I…” Violet hesitated.

“You said to ask for what I needed,” Kate managed to quip back with a partial smile and laugh.

“That I did,” Violet answered, a bit of a smile on her face.

Violet left the room and though Kate’s grasp on Anthony’s hand relaxed, she did not let go.

“I want you to stay,” she said. “Please?”

“Anything,” he murmured, kissing the top of her head, and leaning into her so her shoulder bumped into his chest.

“Really, _anything?_ ” she asked, a smile playing on her lips. “What if I were to …”

Anthony groaned and stifled a laugh. “You must be fine if we’re playing this game.” He chuckles, “But yes, within reason.”

“So, it’s reasonable to ask you to stay? Most men don’t. In fact, basically no men stay…” Kate did not open her eyes, it would not have done any use as his face was half buried in her hair.

“It seems rather reasonable to me. If there’s anything I can do to make it so you don’t feel as much pain, or it’s more bearable, I’ll do it,” he said, kissing her brow again.

“Your mother and the midwife will protest,” she said.

“I know,” he replied. “But she acquiesced this time.”

“That was once. She will be bound to ask again, and she is quite formidable. Not to mention there will be the midwife to argue with too.”

“If anyone’s up to arguing with everyone and being as contrary as possible, it’s you,” Anthony said, lovingly and with the slight intent to provoke an argument all at once.

“I ought to be mad at that,” Kate said.

“It was a compliment,” he replied.

Kate shifted slightly in the bed, and wordlessly Anthony sat down beside her, wrapping his arm around her shoulders, and letting her hold his other hand. Anthony mumbled something against her hair and smoothed it together as best as he could with one hand.

“Could you tie it back?” she asked. “There are ribbons on my nightstand.”

Without a word, Anthony just kisses the top of her head and extricates himself from behind her. Thirty seconds later, he has come back into the room with a white ribbon in his hand.

“I can do one better,” he showed her the ribbon and then gathered her hair into his hands. With care, he separated it into three curly sections and wove them together. It was not the neatest braid Kate had ever worn her hair in, but he tied it cleanly at the bottom and it was not going to get caught in anything or pulled in the ordeal to come.

“Wherever did you learn to do that?” she asked him.

“Hyacinth,” he paused for a moment after the single word. “I would take her to play her hair would become tangled, the most logical course of action seemed to learn how to braid it.”

Kate smiled and pulled his hand close, lacing her fingers through his. “That is one of the sweetest things you have ever told me.”

“Well don’t share it with anyone,” he grinned that rakish grin that she both loathed and loved at the same time.

“I wo…” another pain caused her to lose the thought and tighten her grip on his hand.

“I’m here,” Anthony murmurs. “I won’t leave.” He has managed to bury his face into the top of her head again, so she cannot see his expression – it is that timeless deflection she knows he uses, but again, she has no energy to deal with it. He is healing but this will take time, she knows that. She contents herself with his arm around her shoulders, his fingers laced through hers, and his breath in her hair. 

A short time later, the Violet and the midwife had come in, and while they had both tried to convince Anthony and Kate that Anthony really had no place in the birthing room, it had been to no avail. At least three hours had passed since the last time they had tried to reason with the couple. Anthony was still sitting with his arm and shoulder supporting her and his hand knotted tightly with hers. The pains were coming closer together now and Kate was getting tired as the night wore on. Only a bit of light seeped through the window from the moon and the candles were flickering in a way that made her feel desperate for this to be over.

“At this point he really should leave,” the midwife said, exasperated when Kate had another contraction. “A birthing chamber is no place for a husband. They have done their part by now. It will be time soon.”

Kate gritted her teeth as another pain bore down. They were becoming more and more unyielding.

Anthony glared at the midwife and softened his gaze only a bit when it landed on Violet. “I’m staying. She asked me to stay.”

The pain became too much to bear, and Kate made a sound halfway between a groan and a scream. Her grip on Anthony’s hand was so tight that their knuckles were white. Anthony’s faced went ghostly white and he smoothed back her hair with the hand not gripped in his.

“As I said before, they don’t know what to do to help and they just get in the way,” the midwife continued.

“Anthony, go wait with your siblings, I heard Hyacinth shuffling at the door not a few minutes ago. Have a drink with Benedict to distract you, let us do the work here,” Violet said.

“I’m the one doing the work,” Kate said, more forcefully than she thought she would be able to manage as the wave of pain ended. “And I say he stays.”

It went on like that for hours. The bickering about Anthony staying and the pains. Kate was unsure how she would ever manage to stand it for as long as it would take – really did the baby have to take quite so much time – but sometime around the first light of the morning, Violet and the midwife asked her to push.

Her body seemed to know what to do, and she did, with wave after wave of pressure and pain. The strenuous nature of what was going on combined with the voices of Violet, the midwife, and Anthony all giving encouragement (not to mention her own screams) blurred the next moments together.

“Almost there, Kate, that’s it,” Violet said, echoing the midwife.

“Once more,” the midwife said. “One push and…”

Kate felt the wave of pain and pushed, straining against whatever invisible force was tethering her there. Her eyes were screwed shut from the pain. The sheer exhaustion of the events was gaining on her. She barely noticed Anthony next to her or any of the surrounding commotion – everything was within and focused on her.

“That’s it,” the midwife said as piercing cry split the air. and Kate collapsed against Anthony’s arm and the bolster pillows.

“A boy,” Violet said, working carefully to clean the baby with midwife. He was still wailing as Violet shushed him. “He’s perfect.” Then, seeing the newborn was in capable hands, the midwife returned to Kate and delivered the afterbirth.

Kate fell back against the pillows again, Anthony’s arm still tight around her. Her eyes were searching where Violet was standing and bathing the baby – _her baby_ – she thought. She caught glimpses of a tiny foot and hand. She watched as Violet wrapped the infant up into the carefully laid out blanket. Violet then brought the bundle over and Kate reached out her arms just enough that Violet could nestle the baby in the curve of them. She stared down at his delicate features, so perfectly tiny, from button nose to slightly curved lips to gentle brow. Pressed against her through the blanket, she could feel the movement of his body as he breathed in and out and the tiny flicker of heartbeat. He made little whimpering sounds as he settled down.

Anthony pressed a kiss to the top of her now sweat soaked hair and then pulled back just enough to study her face. He hardly glanced down, just studied the tired lines of Kate’s face and then smoothed her hair back – despite the braid some of it had come loose, sticking to her cheeks. Kate could feel his gaze, so strong it was as if it he was willing her to forever be alright. It was the kind of look from him she had seen many times – the accident and then throughout her time with child. He was still so worried, anxious, _in love with her_ , Kate thought. They sat this way for an indeterminate amount of time as Violet and the midwife tidied up.

“She will need to rest,” the midwife interrupted the silence. “Seems like everything is alright, but she should rest for as much as she can.”

“Of course,” Anthony and Violet said at the same time. Kate’s eyes were still fixed on the baby in her arms, but she nodded in acquiescence. She hated bedrest – even more so since the accident – but she was tired, so awfully tired, more so than she had ever been in her life. She would manage to stay still even though it was not her forte. 

The midwife showed Kate how to feed the baby and told her the true milk would come in within three or four days. Kate listened as attentively as she could. She had insisted on feeding the baby herself in the past months, though this was almost as uncommon among the upper classes as having Anthony stay with her through the birth. Most women employed wetnurses, but Violet said she fed her own children and Kate had been doing her utmost to follow in her footsteps – though she had convinced herself would never be quite so good a hostess.

Afterwards, Kate still cradling the infant in her arms, the midwife cleaned up the last of her possessions and left, murmuring a few last instructions to Violet on the way out.

Violet walked over towards the bed, standing on the side next to where Anthony was sitting. “I’ll leave you to rest. I’ll have some food sent up.”

Slowly, Violet brushed her fingers against the baby’s blanket and then against Anthony’s shoulder. Lingering for a moment, Violet observed the scene before leaving the Viscountess’s room. _Please let him open to her more with this_ , Violet thought to herself. She knew more of the struggles within her son than he was aware of. He was less at hiding his feelings than he believed himself to be, at least concerning his mother, and she would hazard a guess, Kate.

After another moment of sitting there, Kate tipped her face towards Anthony. A small part of her was surprised that he was still looking at her and not their child. She knew he was looking forward to this as much, perhaps even more so than she. “Do you want to hold him?” she asked, her voice soft.

Anthony nodded, and with the utmost care, he removed his arm from behind Kate. Then, with the practice of one well use to holding a small child, he took the bundle from Kate’s arms. It had been a long time since Gregory or Hyacinth was small enough to hold like this, but he remembered quite well. For the first time since Kate went into labor, Anthony looked way from Kate for a time longer than a few seconds. He examined the infant’s face like Kate had before. Kate gently leaned her head against his shoulder and closed her eyes. She could hear his heartbeat and the calming rise and fall of his breath. 

“You should sleep,” Anthony whispered, though his eyes now did not leave their child’s form. Kate mumbled in the affirmative and slowly shifted into a position more apt to foster sleep. Her body was sore and tired, and though in part she would like to continue to observe Anthony and their son, she caved and slept.

She was not certain how long passed by the time that she opened her eyes again, blinking in the light. She must have been asleep for quite some time, and deeply asleep too, for Anthony was no longer seated beside her and she usually woke when he left the bed. Too many times he had been restless and pursued by his concerns and fears for her to not train herself to do that. He needed her and she needed him. Gingerly, she moved to sitting up against the bolster pillows, taking stock of how sore her body was. Anthony was standing near the window, embracing the baby in his arms. He looked so perfectly comfortable and at ease with the baby supported in the crook of one arm, head in the inside of his elbow. The other hand was slightly gesturing towards something out the window and Kate could hear him speaking in a low voice, whispering something to the child that she could not quite make out.

With the sun peeking through the curtains, the scene looked so perfectly and serenely domestic from where Kate was resting that she wanted to freeze time. She waited a few moments, just watching, keeping it memorized for time immemorial. Then she shifted slightly, to get more comfortable, but it must have made just enough of a noise to indicate to Anthony that she was awake. He turned to her, slipping the second hand around the infant. He looked so utterly content that Kate gave a slight smile. Kate looked at him with loving eyes to and he returned the gaze.

“Edmund,” she said, softly, but loud enough that it was clear.

It took Anthony a moment to respond. He just broke their gaze and looked down at the small bundle in his arms with a look of such pure love that it made Kate want to melt.

“Thank you,” he whispered, almost inaudibly.

“Edmund Anthony,” she added.

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first Bridgerton fic and my first fic in a looooong time. I might write more if the inspiration arises. If you've got any ideas, let me know (cannon compliant, please).


End file.
